US7364249B2 - Ink jet recording apparatus and ink jet recording method - Google Patents

Ink jet recording apparatus and ink jet recording method Download PDF

Info

Publication number
US7364249B2
US7364249B2 US11/144,705 US14470505A US7364249B2 US 7364249 B2 US7364249 B2 US 7364249B2 US 14470505 A US14470505 A US 14470505A US 7364249 B2 US7364249 B2 US 7364249B2
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
recording
temperature
media
head
ink
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Fee Related, expires
Application number
US11/144,705
Other languages
English (en)
Other versions
US20050270322A1 (en
Inventor
Ayako Uji
Noribumi Koitabashi
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Canon Inc
Original Assignee
Canon Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Canon Inc filed Critical Canon Inc
Assigned to CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA reassignment CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: KOITABASHI, NORIBUMI, UJI, AYAKO
Publication of US20050270322A1 publication Critical patent/US20050270322A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of US7364249B2 publication Critical patent/US7364249B2/en
Expired - Fee Related legal-status Critical Current
Adjusted expiration legal-status Critical

Links

Images

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/015—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process
    • B41J2/04—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand
    • B41J2/045—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand by pressure, e.g. electromechanical transducers
    • B41J2/04501—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits
    • B41J2/04563—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits detecting head temperature; Ink temperature
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/015—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process
    • B41J2/04—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand
    • B41J2/045—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand by pressure, e.g. electromechanical transducers
    • B41J2/04501—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits
    • B41J2/0458—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits controlling heads based on heating elements forming bubbles
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/135—Nozzles
    • B41J2/145—Arrangement thereof
    • B41J2/155—Arrangement thereof for line printing
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
    • B41J2/195—Ink jet characterised by ink handling for monitoring ink quality

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus.
  • the present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and an ink jet recording method therefor, for performing the ejection control of a recording head.
  • an ink jet recording apparatus having a plurality of ejection openings for ejecting ink has been known.
  • the temperature of ink in the recording head is one of very important parameters. Specifically, ink properties such as the viscosity or surface tension change depending on the ink temperature. The ejection status also changes depending on the change of the ink property. Ink viscosity is particularly high in a low temperature environment, which may cause the ejection to be unstable to deteriorate the recording quality. In order to always maintain stabilized ejection, ink in the apparatus in some cases is heated to have a predetermined temperature when the recording is started. To achieve this, such a structure is frequently employed that heaters are provided at the interior and/or exterior of the recording head.
  • first-ejection time a recovery operation such as a preliminary ejection is performed, in the middle of the recording or prior to the start of the next recording, by ejecting a certain amount of ink outside the recording medium until ink can be ejected correctly.
  • Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-234629 (1991) discloses a structure in which, until a head temperature reaches a predetermined temperature after the apparatus power source is turned on, a driving pulse applied to the head is changed depending on the head temperature to warm-up the apparatus.
  • Another structure is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-070348 (1992) in which, in order to increase the head temperature to a fixed temperature more rapidly, an electrothermal transducer element (ejection heater) for generating thermal energy used for ink ejection is applied, depending on a temperature detected at the turning ON of the power source or the cancellation of the preheating, with an electric signal at which ink is not ejected so that the element generates heat.
  • ejection heater electrothermal transducer element for generating thermal energy used for ink ejection
  • Representative ink jet recording apparatuses include: the serial type one in which a recording head is scanned on a recording medium in a predetermined direction to perform recording; and the full line type one in which a recording head having a width equal to or larger than the width of the recording medium (hereinafter referred to as “line head”) is used to perform recording.
  • the line head does not scan a recording medium as in the case of the serial type recording head and performs recording to the recording medium on the line basis.
  • the line head requires a shorter time for recording a predetermined amount when compared to the case of the serial type one and has a main objective of a high-speed recording.
  • the preliminary ejection in the serial type recording apparatus is frequently performed in places for the preliminary ejection that are provided exterior to the recording region (e.g., cap, preliminary ejection receipt).
  • the recording head is once moved to outside the recording region to perform a preliminary ejection, during which the recording is interrupted.
  • a time required for recording a predetermined amount is increased.
  • the ejected ink is waste ink, thus increasing, when the preliminary ejection is performed with a higher frequency, the amount of waste ink.
  • the full line type recording apparatus having the main objective of providing a high-speed printing as described above, is desirably prevented from having a lower recording rate as much as possible.
  • the present applicant suggests a mechanism through which a preliminary ejection is not performed outside the recording region but is performed on a belt for transporting a recording medium.
  • the mechanism in which the preliminary ejection is performed on a belt requires the belt to be cleaned because ink left on the belt contaminates the recording medium. This belt cleaning is performed as required in the middle of the recording, thus causing the time required for the recording to be prolonged in order to provide the cleaning.
  • Ink preliminarily ejected to the belt is waste ink as in the case of the serial type one.
  • the recording head is desirably provided with a status favorable for ink ejection as long as possible. Specifically, if the first-ejection time becomes longer, the number of times at which the preliminary ejection can be reduced.
  • An effective method for providing such a long first-ejection time is to adjust, during the recording operation, the temperature of the recording head to prevent the ink temperature in the head from being increased or reduced more than necessary.
  • the adjustment of the temperature in the recording head is particularly effective for a prolonging first-ejection time because the bubble jet® type ink jet recording apparatus in which a nozzle includes a heater and this heater is heated to instantly generate air bubbles in the ink so that the pressure for generating air bubbles is used to eject ink may cause a case in which a continuous ejection operation causes a more-than-necessary temperature increase of the ink in the nozzle.
  • the head includes, in addition to an ink ejection heater, a heat source such as a heat retention heater (sub heater) provided on the same substrate on which the ink ejection heater is provided.
  • this sub heater is driven to heat ink in a direct or indirect manner.
  • a method for example, for detecting the ink temperature (head temperature) in a direct or indirect manner to drive the sub heater until the ink has a predetermined temperature so that power supply is interrupted when the ink has a temperature equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature and the power supply is resumed when the ink has a temperature equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature.
  • ink ejecting heaters are used to heat ink, and in which such step is repeated that power supply is performed based on a detected temperature of the recording head with a pulse width (short pulse) with which the ink is prevented from generating bubbles until the ink has a predetermined temperature and then interrupted when the ink has a temperature equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature.
  • pulse width short pulse
  • the sub heater and the ejection heater are both used for controlling the ink temperature.
  • ink is heated by the ejection heater until the ink reaches a predetermined temperature, and once the ink has a temperature equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature, the sub heater is controlled such that the ink it further heated until the ink reaches a targeted temperature and then the resulting ink temperature is kept constant.
  • recording conditions are different depending on an image or a user's selection. For example, there may be conditions for printing images such as photographs on a few recording media or for printing a large amount of documents such as texts with a high speed. In any of these conditions, the recording is required to be performed with a desired image quality and with a speed as high as possible.
  • the conventional control system/technique for adjusting the temperature of a recording head does not starts the ink ejection until the ink temperature reaches a fixed temperature.
  • the time (t) during which a favorable ejection status can be maintained is increased as the ink temperature (T) increases as shown in FIG. 6 .
  • the number of times at which the preliminary ejection is performed within a predetermined time period can be reduced as the ink temperature is increased.
  • the number of times at which the preliminary ejection is performed can be reduced if the ink temperature is maintained to be high, thus reducing the total time required for the recording.
  • a certain length of time is required to heat the ink in its cool status to have a temperature of 45° C.
  • the length of time from a time at which a recording start command is given to a time at which a recording is started (hereinafter referred to as “stand-by time”) is longer in the case latter than the former case.
  • stand-by time an apparatus for recording one recording medium in one second is assumed. When this apparatus is used to perform recording on five media, the apparatus requires five seconds for the recording. This means that all the media can be recorded while a favorable ejection status is maintained.
  • the time during which the determined ink temperature is reached is increased to increase the stand-by time, which may cause a case where the total time required for the recording with the high ink temperature is longer than that when a low ink temperature is set.
  • the relation between the ink temperature and the total time required for the recording changes depending on the number of recording media.
  • the conventional control method for adjusting a recording head temperature has maintained a fixed ink temperature without considering the number of recording media. This has caused a case where, the time required for the recording is increased depending on the number of recording media, thus failing to satisfy the demands of high-speed printing by users.
  • the present invention was made in view of the problems of the prior art as described above.
  • the present invention can provide an ink jet recording apparatus in which the preset temperature of a recording head is changed depending on the number of recording media so that any number of recording media can be always provided with a favorable recording result while reducing the time required for the recording.
  • an ink jet recording apparatus for recording on recording media based on recording data by ejecting ink from a recording head, comprising:
  • determination means for determining, based on the amount of recording media to be recorded with the recording data, an adjustment temperature of the recording head
  • recording control means for maintaining, during the recording operation, the recording head to have the determined temperature.
  • an ink jet recording method using an ink jet recording apparatus for recording to recording media based on recording data by ejecting ink from a recording head comprising:
  • a determination step for determining, based on the amount of media to be printed with the recording data, an adjustment temperature of the recording head
  • a recording control step for maintaining, during the recording operation, the recording head to have the determined temperature.
  • the use of the present invention changes, depending on the number of recording media, the temperature of a recording head during the recording operation.
  • the recording operation can be started with a relatively low temperature, thus reducing the stand-by time.
  • the recording head can be maintained with a relatively high temperature, thus increasing the first-ejection time and maintaining a favorable ink ejection status for a long time to increase the interval during which the preliminary ejection is not required in the middle of the recording.
  • the number of times at which the preliminary ejection is performed in the middle of the recording can be reduced, thus reducing the total time required for the recording.
  • a favorable recording result can be maintained with any number of recording media while reducing the time required for the recording.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic side view illustrating an ink jet recording apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention
  • FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an ejection opening face of a head cartridge
  • FIG. 3 is a partially broken perspective view illustrating the structure in the vicinity of ejection openings of a recording element substrate in the head cartridge H;
  • FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an electric structure of an ink jet recording apparatus
  • FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a temperature adjustment control in Embodiment 1;
  • FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating the relation between a first-ejection time and a determined temperature for a head in the present invention
  • FIG. 7 is a graph illustrating the change of the head temperature due to heating and the head temperature at the start of the recording for each number of recording media
  • FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the temperature adjustment control In Embodiment 2.
  • FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the temperature adjustment control in Embodiment 3.
  • FIG. 10 is a graph illustrating the change of the head temperature and the number of preliminary ejections:
  • FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating a serial type ink jet recording apparatus
  • FIG. 12 illustrates a recording head cartridge that can be included in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 11 ;
  • FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the temperature adjustment control in Embodiment 4.
  • FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating the structure of an ink jet recording apparatus using a line head to which the present invention can be applied.
  • This recording apparatus uses an ink jet print method in which a plurality of line heads 101 g that are provided at predetermined positions and that are arranged in a direction along which a recording medium is transported (shown by the arrow A in the drawing) are used to eject ink for recording.
  • This recording apparatus is controlled by a control circuit of FIG. 4 (which will be described later) to operate.
  • each of the recording heads 101 Bk, 101 C, 101 M, and 101 Y of the head group 101 g about 14000 ink ejection openings are arranged with the density of 1200 dpi in a direction of the width of the recording medium 103 transported in the direction A of the drawing (i.e., in a direction perpendicular to the direction along which the recording medium is transported).
  • the time required for performing the recording of one A4-size recording medium is one second at the maximum, providing the recording rate of 60 media/second.
  • the recording can be provided to an A3-size recording medium at the maximum.
  • the size of a recording head, recording rate, maximum recording region or the like are mere examples for the use of the present invention and do not limit the present invention.
  • the recording medium 103 is guided by a pair of guide plates 11 driven by a transportation motor. After a front edge of the recording medium 103 is detected, the recording medium 103 is transported by the transportation belt 111 .
  • the transportation belt 111 is an endless belt that is retained by two rollers 112 and 113 . The displacement of the upper part in the longitudinal direction is restricted by the platen 104 .
  • the recording medium 103 is transported by allowing the roller 113 to be rotated. Absorption of the recording medium 103 toward the transportation belt 111 is performed by electrostatic absorption.
  • the roller 113 is driven by a driving source such as a motor (not shown) to transport the recording medium 103 in the direction A.
  • the recording medium 103 is printed by the head group 101 g while being transported by the transportation belt 111 and is moved to the stacker 116 .
  • each recording head of the head group 101 g the head 101 Bk for ejecting black ink and the heads for ejecting color ink (cyan head 101 C, magenta head 101 M, yellow head 101 Y) are arranged as shown in the drawing along the direction A along which the recording medium 103 is transported.
  • the respective recording heads eject ink of the respective colors so that black characters or color images can be printed.
  • FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of the head cartridge H for one color in the recording head group 101 g that can be included in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 .
  • the reference numeral 120 represents a recording element substrate for ejecting ink and the reference numeral 130 represents a flexible cable for supplying power to the recording element substrate.
  • the cartridge H in this embodiment includes a plurality of recording element substrates 120 in order to have a higher recording rate.
  • this embodiment shows a so-called line head in which a plurality of recording element substrates are arranged in a staggered manner so that nozzles are substantially arranged in the width direction of a recording medium
  • another line head also may be used in which one or two column(s) of nozzles is/are arranged.
  • the arrows in FIG. 2 show the direction along which ink is ejected.
  • FIG. 3 shows the structure in the vicinity of the ejection openings of one recording element substrate in the cartridge H shown in FIG. 2 .
  • the reference numeral 121 represents an electrothermal transducer element (ejection heater) for generating thermal energy that is used to eject ink in accordance with the power supply.
  • the heaters 121 share the same substrate with a sub heater (not shown).
  • the reference numeral 122 represents an ink ejection opening; the reference numeral 123 represents a substrate; the reference numeral 124 represents an ink supply opening for ink supplied from an ink tank; the reference numeral 125 represents a ejection plate on which the ink ejection openings 122 are provided; the reference numeral 126 represents a flow path wall for providing an ink flow path to each ink ejection opening; the reference numeral 127 represents a resin coating layer; and the reference numeral 128 represents a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the head.
  • Ink is filled in an ink flow path from the ink supply opening 124 to the ink ejection openings 122 .
  • Ink is heated by an ejection heater to have therein film boiling and the pressure generated by the bubble caused by the boiling is used to eject ink In the vicinity of the ink ejection openings 122 .
  • FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the control of the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 .
  • the system controller 201 has a microprocessor, a ROM for storing a control program executed by this apparatus, and a RAM used as a work area by the microprocessor for a processing, for example.
  • the system controller 201 controls the entire apparatus.
  • the system controller 201 also controls the ink ejection and the heater for controlling the temperature of the recording head.
  • the motor 204 is controlled to be driven by the driver 202 and rotates the roller 113 shown in FIG. 1 to transport a recording medium.
  • the host computer 206 transfers to-be-recorded information to the recording apparatus of this embodiment.
  • the system controller 201 controls each driving section in the recording operation.
  • the reception buffer 207 temporarily stores data from the host computer 206 in order to store the data until the data is read by the system controller 201 .
  • the frame memory 208 is a memory for developing to-be-recorded data into image data and is sized to store information required for the recording.
  • the buffer 209 temporarily stores to-be-recorded data and has the storage capacity that is determined depending on the number of ejection openings of the recording head.
  • the print control section 210 appropriately controls the driving of the recording head by a command from the system controller 201 by controlling a drive frequency, the number of to-be-recorded data or the like and also prepares data for performing a preliminary ejection.
  • the driver 211 drives the respective recording heads 101 Bk, 101 C, 101 M, and 101 Y for ejecting ink and is controlled by a signal from the recording control section 210 .
  • to-be-recorded data is transported from the host computer 206 to the reception buffer 207 and is temporarily stored.
  • the stored to-be-recorded data is read by the system controller 201 and is developed into the buffer 209 .
  • Abnormality such as paper jam, ink shortage, or paper shortage can be detected by various detection signals from the abnormality sensor 222 .
  • the recording control section 210 controls the ejection operation of the respective recording heads.
  • a control is provided to adjust the temperature of the recording head during the recording operation.
  • This control intends to adjust the temperature of the recording head depending on the number of media to be printed so that the recording head can have a favorable status as long as possible even when the number of media to be printed is increased. This control method will be described by some embodiments.
  • this method is applied to the full line type recording apparatus in the embodiments (except for the case of Embodiment 4).
  • this control method may be used not only for the full line type recording apparatus but also for the serial type recording apparatus.
  • FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the temperature adjustment control of a recording head in this embodiment.
  • the system controller Based on the to-be-recorded data and the recording start command sent from the host computer, the system controller starts the temperature adjustment control of the recording head.
  • the number of recording media is determined based on the data to be recorded (Step 500 ) and the head temperature T 0 at the start of the recording is determined depending on the number of recording media (Step 501 ).
  • the head temperature T 0 at the start of the recording is set in accordance with Table 1.
  • the head temperature T 0 at the start of the recording is set to be: 25° C. when the number of recording media is equal to or lower than 5; 30° C. when the number of recording media is 6 to 10; 40° C. when the number of recording media is equal to or 11 to 40; and 45° C. when the number of recording media is higher than 41.
  • This uses a characteristic in which a longer ink temperature provides a longer the first-ejection time so that the number of preliminary ejections can be reduced when the number of recording media is increased.
  • FIG. 6 shows the relation between the temperature (T) of a recording head and the time (t) during which the ejection performance can be maintained.
  • the head temperature of 25° C. can maintain only 5 seconds of a favorable ejection status while the head temperature of 45° C. can maintain as many as 30 seconds of favorable ejection status.
  • the head temperature of 25° C. requires a preliminary ejection to be performed every about 5 seconds while the head temperature of 45° C. only requires a preliminary ejection to be performed every about 30 seconds.
  • a higher head temperature can increase the interval during which a preliminary ejection is not required, thus reducing the number of preliminary ejections required for printing the predetermined number of media to reduce the time required for the recording.
  • the time required for printing one medium is one second at the maximum.
  • an operation for printing five or less media can be completed within five seconds during which a favorable ejection status is maintained, thus eliminating the need for performing the preliminary ejection in the middle of the recording.
  • the head temperature at the start of the recording is previously set to be low to have 25° C., thereby reducing the time required for starting the recording.
  • Step 502 when the head temperature is lower than the recording start temperature T 0 (Step 502 ), the sub heater is operated to heat ink (Step 503 ). Then, when the head temperature reaches the recording start temperature, the recording operation is started (Step 504 ). When the recording to the predetermined number of media is completed (Step 505 ), the sub heater is stopped (Step 506 ) and the processing is completed (Step 507 ).
  • the recording start temperature is set to be 40° C. and the belt is subjected to a preliminary election after the recording of 20 media, then the belt is subjected to a cleaning processing.
  • the recording start temperature is set to be 45° C. and a preliminary ejection is performed after the printing of 30 media.
  • ink having the composition as shown below was used.
  • the amount of the respective elements shown below is represented by the concentration by % by weight.
  • FIG. 7 is a graph illustrating the head temperature at the start of the recording of the respective number of recording media and the change of the temperature thereafter.
  • the temperature adjustment control is also stopped and thus the head temperature is reduced.
  • the number of recording media is 40
  • the preliminary ejection is performed after the recording of 20 media.
  • the temperature adjustment control of the head is stopped during the preliminary ejection, thus lowering the head temperature during the preliminary ejection.
  • Another control also may be used in which the temperature adjustment control of the head is not stopped even during the preliminary ejection.
  • Embodiment 1 different recording start temperatures are used depending on the number of recording media so that the respective numbers of recording media can be subjected to a suitable temperature adjustment control.
  • this control method requires, as the number of recording media is increased, a longer stand-by time until the start of the recording.
  • Embodiment 2 uses a fixed recording start temperature T 1 regardless of the number of recording media and an adjustment temperature T 2 can be changed depending on the number of recording media, thus providing a fixed stand-by time.
  • FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of the temperature adjustment control of Embodiment 2.
  • Embodiment 2 uses the same apparatus as that in Embodiment 1 in which the recording head includes, in addition to heaters for ink ejection, a sub heater for heating ink.
  • Embodiment 2 also uses ink as in Embodiment 1 that gets longer the first-ejection time as the temperature is increased.
  • the respective head temperatures have a time during which a favorable ejection status can be maintained as shown in FIG. 6 .
  • the temperatures of the recording heads are changed in accordance with the temperature curve shown in FIG. 7 .
  • the system controller Based on the to-be-recorded data and the recording start command sent from the host computer, the system controller starts the temperature adjustment control of the recording head. First, the number of recording media is determined based on the to-be-recorded data (Step 800 ). Then, the adjustment temperature T 2 is determined based on the number of recording media (Step 801 ). This adjustment temperature T 2 is determined in accordance with Table 2.
  • TABLE 2 Recording start Adjustment temperature T2 in temperature accordance with the number of media (X).
  • T1 1 to 5 6 to 10 11 to 20 21 to 30 31 to 40 41 - 25° C. 25° C. 30° C. 40° C. 40° C. 40° C. 45° C.
  • the recording start temperature T 1 is determined.
  • the recording start temperature T 1 is determined as 25° C. and the recording is started when the head has a temperature equal to or higher than 25° C.
  • Step 802 whether the head temperature reaches Ti or not is detected.
  • a short pulse is sent to the ejection heater so that the ejection heater is driven for a time that is sufficiently short so that ink ejection is not caused, thus heating the ink (Step 803 ).
  • this heating operation provides the head temperature equal to or higher than T 1 , the heating by a short pulse is stopped (Step 804 ).
  • the recording operation is started (Step 805 ).
  • the recording start temperature T 1 is 25° C. for any number of media, thus providing an almost constant stand-by time regardless of the number of recording media.
  • Embodiment 1 when the number of recording is equal to or lower than 5, all of the recording is completed in a condition that a favorable ejection status is maintained. Thus, a preliminary ejection is not required in the middle of the recording. When the number of recording media is high on the other hand, a preliminary ejection is required in the middle of the recording. Thus, in order to reduce the number of preliminary ejections, the head must be subjected to a temperature adjustment control in accordance with the adjustment temperature.
  • Step 807 When the head temperature does not reach the adjustment temperature T 2 after the start of the recording operation (Step 807 ), the sub heater is driven to heat ink (Step 809 ). Then, the recording is continued in this status.
  • the sub heater stops heating ink (Step 808 ).
  • the sub heater also stops heating (Step 810 ), when the recording of the predetermined number of media is completed (Step 806 ). Then, the recording operation is completed (Step 811 ).
  • the recording is always started with the recording start temperature T 1 regardless of the number of recording media. This can reduce the stand-by time and can prevent ink during the stand-by operation from being evaporated.
  • the head temperature is adjusted by the adjustment temperature T 2 that is equal to or higher than the recording starts temperature T 1 . As a result, the total time required for the recording can be reduced for any number of recording media.
  • the recording is started when the head temperature reaches the recording start temperature T 1 and the sub heater continues to heat ink even during the recording. As a result, the head temperature reaches 40° C. when the recording of about 5 media is completed, as shown in FIG. 7 .
  • the time during which a favorable ejection status is maintained is 20 seconds as can be seen from FIG. 6 and is longer than the time required for the recording of all 20 media. Thus, all 20 media can be recorded without requiring the preliminary ejection.
  • the preliminary ejection is required when the recording of 30 media is completed.
  • the number of preliminary ejections can be reduced compared to the case where the adjustment temperature T 2 is set to be lower than 45° C., thus reducing the total time required for the recording.
  • the reduced number of preliminary ejections also can reduce the contamination of the belt when the preliminary ejection is performed on the transportation belt.
  • Embodiment 2 described is the control in which a fixed recording start temperature is used while changing the adjustment temperature depending on the number of recording media.
  • the recording head In the case of a large number of recording media (e.g. 100), the recording head is maintained to have 45° C. for a relatively long time. Then, the head requires a long time to have a low temperature even after the completion of the recording.
  • the ink jet head tends to have an increased ejection amount as the ink temperature is increased.
  • the ejection amount is increased, increasing a possibility where dots having a large diameter are formed.
  • Dots having a relatively large diameter are preferred for a text document because they increase the density but are not preferred in a high-precision image (e.g., photograph image) because they stand out too much.
  • a high-precision image e.g., photograph image
  • this embodiment will describe a control in which, the adjustment temperature T 2 is reduced, in order to accelerate the decline of the head temperature after the printing of a large amount of 100 or more media, depending on the number of already-printed media.
  • FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of the temperature adjustment control in this embodiment.
  • This embodiment also uses the same apparatus as that in embodiment 1 in which the recording head includes, in addition to heaters for ink ejection, a sub heater for heating ink.
  • Embodiment 3 also uses ink as in Embodiment 1 that gets longer the first-ejection time as the temperature is increased.
  • the respective head temperatures have a time during which a favorable ejection status can be maintained as shown in FIG. 6 .
  • the temperatures of the recording heads are changed in accordance with the temperature curve shown in FIG. 7 .
  • the system controller Based on the to-be-recorded data and the recording start command sent from the host computer, the system controller starts the temperature adjustment control of the recording head.
  • the number of recording media is determined based on the to-be-recorded data (Step 900 ). The following section will describe a case where the number of recording medium is 100.
  • the adjustment temperature T 2 is determined depending on the number of media that has been already printed in a time from the start of the recording to the present time (Step 901 ).
  • the adjustment temperature T 2 is determined in accordance with Table 3.
  • the adjustment temperature T 2 has an Initial value of 45° C., as shown in Table 3.
  • TABLE 3 Recording Adjustment temperature T2 in accordance with the start number of media (X′) that has been already printed in a temperature time from the start of the recording to the present time T1 0 to 60 61 to 80 81 to 100 25° C. 45° C. 40° C. 30° C.
  • Step 902 whether the head temperature is reached at the recording start temperature T 1 or not is detected.
  • the ejection heater is driven with a short pulse that does not cause ink ejection to heat ink (Step 903 ).
  • the heating by the short pulse is stopped (Step 904 ).
  • the recording operation is started (Step 905 ).
  • Step 906 When the predetermined number of media (100 in this embodiment) has not yet recorded during the recording (Step 906 ), whether the head temperature reaches the adjustment temperature T 2 or not is detected (Step 907 ). Then, every one medium among the number of media (X′) that has been already printed is counted so that the adjustment temperature T 2 is set to be 45° C. when the number of media that has been already recorded X′ is lower than 60.
  • the sub heater is driven to heat ink (Step 908 ).
  • the sub heater is stopped to stop heating ink (Step 909 ).
  • the adjustment temperature T 2 is changed as needed depending on the number of media that has been already recorded. For example, when the number of media that has been already recorded X′ is equal to or higher than 61, then the adjustment temperature T 2 is 40° C. and, when the number of media that has been already recorded X′ is equal to or higher than 81, then the adjustment temperature T 2 is 30° C. Then, the sub heater is controlled so that the head temperature is equal to the adjustment temperature T 2 .
  • Step 906 all of the recording is completed.
  • the sub heater is stopped (Step 910 ), thus completing the recording operation (Step 911 ).
  • FIG. 10 shows the change of the temperature control of this embodiment.
  • the number of preliminary ejections can be reduced if the adjustment temperature T 2 is determined to be higher in accordance with the increase in the number of recording media.
  • a high ink temperature requires the head to have a long time for cooling the head after the recording until a low temperature is reached.
  • this embodiment reduces the adjustment temperature T 2 when the number of recorded media exceeds 60. The reduction in the head temperature shortens the ink ejection time and thus the interval 30 seconds between preliminary ejections to reduced to 20 seconds. Specifically, the interval between preliminary ejections is reduced.
  • the adjustment temperature T 2 is further reduced and the interval between preliminary ejections is reduced to 10 seconds.
  • the number of not-yet-recorded media is about 40 and thus an increase in the number of preliminary ejections is not so high.
  • the total time required for the recording shows only a small increase.
  • this control routine is very effective for a case, for example, in which only a few media are printed, immediately after the recording of a large amount of text documents, to have thereon photograph image(s).
  • Embodiments 1 to 3 described the temperature adjustment control using the full line type recording head, the present invention provides the same effect not only to the full line type recording head but also to the serial type recording head.
  • Embodiment 4 will describe a case where the present invention is applied to the serial type recording head.
  • FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of a serial type ink jet recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.
  • the recording operation mechanism in this embodiment includes: the automatic paper feeding section 300 for automatically feeding a recording medium to the apparatus body; the transportation section 320 for guiding one recording medium sent from the automatic paper feeding section to a desired printing position and for guiding the medium from the printing position to the paper ejection section 310 ; a recording section for providing a desired printing to the recording medium transported to the transportation section; and the recovery section 330 for providing a recovery operation to the recording section.
  • the recording section consists of the carriage 350 movably supported by the carriage axis 340 and the recording head cartridge H detachably attached to this carriage 350 .
  • FIG. 12 shows an example of the structure of the head cartridge H that can be included in the ink jet recording apparatus shown in FIG. 11 .
  • the head cartridge H according to this embodiment has the recording head 400 for causing a nozzle to eject ink and the ink tank 410 for storing ink to supply ink to the recording head 400 .
  • the shown recording cartridge H includes the independent ink tanks of, for example, tanks for six colors of black (Bk), cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), photo-cyan (PC), and photo-magenta (PM).
  • the respective ink tanks can be attached or detached to/from the recording head 400 .
  • the head cartridge H includes the same ink ejection section as that in FIG. 3 .
  • the serial type recording apparatus requires a longer time for recording one medium when compared to the case of the full line type recording apparatus.
  • the full line type is relatively suitable for an operation in which a large amount of media must be recorded within a short time.
  • the serial type one is relatively suitable for family use because it can have a reduced size easily when compared to the case of the full line type one.
  • a serial type recording apparatus for which the number of recording media for one recording operation is assumed to be relatively small has a mechanism in which the adjustment temperature is not minutely determined depending on the number of recording media but is changed in accordance with whether the number of recording media is equal to or higher than or lower than a specified value (10 in this embodiment).
  • FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of the temperature adjustment control in this embodiment.
  • Embodiment 4 also uses the similar control system as that in Embodiment 1 in which the recording head includes, in addition to heaters for ink ejection, a sub heater for heating ink.
  • Embodiment 4 also uses ink as in Embodiment 1 that increases the first-ejection time as the temperature is increased.
  • the respective head temperatures have a time during which a favorable ejection status can be maintained as shown in FIG. 6 .
  • the temperatures of the recording heads are changed In accordance with the temperature curve shown in FIG. 7 .
  • the recording start temperature T 1 is 25° C.
  • the adjustment temperature T 2 is specified as 25° C. when 10 or less media are printed and is specified as 30° C. when 11 or more media are printed (see Table 4).
  • TABLE 4 Recording Adjustment temperature T2 determined start depending on the number of media to be printed temperature T1 10 or less 11 or more 25° C. 25° C. 30° C.
  • the system controller starts the temperature adjustment control of the recording head.
  • the number of recording media is determined based on the to-be-recorded data (Step 1300 ).
  • the adjustment temperature T 2 is set to be 25° C. and, when 11 or more media are printed, the adjustment temperature T 2 is set to be 30° C. (Step 1301 ).
  • the head temperature 18 detected (Step 1302 ).
  • the ejection heater is driven with a short pulse to heat ink (Step 1303 ).
  • this heating operation provides a head temperature equal to or higher than T 1 , the heating with a short pulse is stopped (Step 1304 ), then starting the recording operation (Step 1305 ).
  • Step 1306 When the printing of the predetermined number of media is completed since the start of the recording operation (Step 1306 ) and when the head temperature has not yet reach the adjustment temperature T 2 (Step 1307 ), then the sub heater is driven to heat ink (Step 1308 ). The recording is continued in this status.
  • the sub heater stops heating ink (Step 1308 ).
  • the sub heater also stops heating ink (Step 1310 ). Then, the recording operation is completed (Step 1311 ).
  • the adjustment temperature is determined to be high to gets longer the first-ejection time, thus reducing the number of preliminary ejections. As a result, the recording time can be reduced and the amount of waste ink can be reduced.
  • the present invention can be applied to a case where the recording is performed on a continuation paper (e.g., fan-folded paper, roll paper) or a to-be-recorded medium in which a sheet having a continuation paper-like shape is adhered with label sheets or the like.
  • the present invention can provide a temperature setting depending not only on “the number of media” but also on the amount of to-be-recorded media used for recording to-be-recorded data.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Quality & Reliability (AREA)
  • Ink Jet (AREA)
US11/144,705 2004-06-08 2005-06-06 Ink jet recording apparatus and ink jet recording method Expired - Fee Related US7364249B2 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP2004170462A JP4290074B2 (ja) 2004-06-08 2004-06-08 インクジェット記録装置およびインクジェット記録方法
JP2004-170462 2004-06-08

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20050270322A1 US20050270322A1 (en) 2005-12-08
US7364249B2 true US7364249B2 (en) 2008-04-29

Family

ID=35447159

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US11/144,705 Expired - Fee Related US7364249B2 (en) 2004-06-08 2005-06-06 Ink jet recording apparatus and ink jet recording method

Country Status (2)

Country Link
US (1) US7364249B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (1) JP4290074B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20100245434A1 (en) * 2009-03-30 2010-09-30 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Recording apparatus

Families Citing this family (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP5011802B2 (ja) * 2006-04-12 2012-08-29 富士ゼロックス株式会社 液滴吐出ヘッド、及び液滴吐出装置
JP5072573B2 (ja) * 2007-01-09 2012-11-14 キヤノン株式会社 記録装置及び記録ヘッドの制御方法
JP5451103B2 (ja) 2008-03-25 2014-03-26 キヤノン株式会社 インクジェット記録装置および記録ヘッドの回復処理方法
JP2010260253A (ja) * 2009-05-07 2010-11-18 Olympus Corp 画像記録装置、及び画像記録装置のインク温度制御方法
JP5234129B2 (ja) * 2011-03-22 2013-07-10 ブラザー工業株式会社 記録装置
JP6452346B2 (ja) * 2014-08-20 2019-01-16 キヤノン株式会社 インクジェット記録装置およびインクジェット記録方法
JP2023077566A (ja) * 2021-11-25 2023-06-06 コニカミノルタ株式会社 画像形成装置

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH03234629A (ja) 1990-02-13 1991-10-18 Canon Inc 画像記録装置
JPH0470348A (ja) 1990-07-02 1992-03-05 Canon Inc 画像記録装置
US6213579B1 (en) * 1998-11-24 2001-04-10 Lexmark International, Inc. Method of compensation for the effects of thermally-induced droplet size variations in ink drop printers
US6641242B2 (en) * 2001-06-06 2003-11-04 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Method and systems for controlling printer temperature

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPH03234629A (ja) 1990-02-13 1991-10-18 Canon Inc 画像記録装置
JPH0470348A (ja) 1990-07-02 1992-03-05 Canon Inc 画像記録装置
US6213579B1 (en) * 1998-11-24 2001-04-10 Lexmark International, Inc. Method of compensation for the effects of thermally-induced droplet size variations in ink drop printers
US6641242B2 (en) * 2001-06-06 2003-11-04 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Method and systems for controlling printer temperature

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20100245434A1 (en) * 2009-03-30 2010-09-30 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Recording apparatus
US8277012B2 (en) 2009-03-30 2012-10-02 Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha Recording apparatus

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JP2005349607A (ja) 2005-12-22
US20050270322A1 (en) 2005-12-08
JP4290074B2 (ja) 2009-07-01

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
JP4010009B2 (ja) 画像記録装置及びメンテナンス方法
US6523948B2 (en) Ink jet printer and ink jet printing method
JP5072573B2 (ja) 記録装置及び記録ヘッドの制御方法
US6102507A (en) Ink Jet output apparatus
JP2002011860A (ja) インクジェットプリンタ及びプリント方法
US7364249B2 (en) Ink jet recording apparatus and ink jet recording method
JPH07314734A (ja) インクジェット記録装置
JPH11198405A (ja) インクジェット記録装置
US7857409B2 (en) Ink jet printing apparatus and ink jet printing method
JP4789679B2 (ja) インクジェット記録装置およびインクジェット記録方法
JP2003072079A (ja) 記録装置及び温度制御方法
JP2001219548A (ja) インクジェット記録装置
JPH08156280A (ja) インクジェット記録装置および情報処理システム
JP2006341570A (ja) インクジェット記録装置およびインクジェット記録方法
JPH0516474A (ja) ロール紙カートリツジおよび該ロール紙カートリツジを備えた記録装置
JP2001080058A (ja) インクジェットプリント装置および該装置を用いるプリントシステム
JP2695271B2 (ja) インクジェット記録装置
JP2004122533A (ja) インクジェット記録装置およびインクジェット記録方法
JP2005193393A (ja) 画像記録装置
JP3262356B2 (ja) インクジェット装置
JPH0516476A (ja) ロール紙カートリツジおよび該ロール紙カートリツジを備えた記録装置
JP3205592B2 (ja) インクジェット記録装置
JP4663276B2 (ja) インクジェット記録装置
JP2882678B2 (ja) 画像記録装置
JPH04259580A (ja) 画像記録装置

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA, JAPAN

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:UJI, AYAKO;KOITABASHI, NORIBUMI;REEL/FRAME:016665/0375

Effective date: 20050602

STCF Information on status: patent grant

Free format text: PATENTED CASE

CC Certificate of correction
FPAY Fee payment

Year of fee payment: 4

FPAY Fee payment

Year of fee payment: 8

FEPP Fee payment procedure

Free format text: MAINTENANCE FEE REMINDER MAILED (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: REM.); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: LARGE ENTITY

LAPS Lapse for failure to pay maintenance fees

Free format text: PATENT EXPIRED FOR FAILURE TO PAY MAINTENANCE FEES (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: EXP.); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: LARGE ENTITY

STCH Information on status: patent discontinuation

Free format text: PATENT EXPIRED DUE TO NONPAYMENT OF MAINTENANCE FEES UNDER 37 CFR 1.362

FP Lapsed due to failure to pay maintenance fee

Effective date: 20200429